single lady

I had Sunday afternoon free so thought I would pay the grayling burn a visit, as Col was saying in a recent post it's grayling have proved hard to find this year for some reason, maybe water quality? I don't know but recent spates have certainly cleared out a lot of the silt and on this day it was running low and as clear as I have seen it.

from the first pool I was pleased to land a nice grayling on a tan glister bug



   still some ice in the shade

my hopes were high in the next few good pools but I never got another touch, not that I was feeling too disheartened, just being on the river on a fine winter afternoon was enough for me, and ive got a feeling that the Grayling will put in an appearance again at some point. 

A Dose of the Trots.

On saturday me and Brian went west for a shot at the grayling. Despite having trotted for grayling many times , it was the first time i'd   done it  properly  with a centrepin reel, Brian on the otherhand has a good few years experience using his, so i was in good hands for any advice or help i would need.
When we arrived  just before 8am it was just light enough to see what we were doing and once tackled up we were trotting.

It didn't take long for Brian to bring the first grayling and then the second and third and the odd out of season trout  to hand, before i too got into some of the action, after a few initial teething problems i started to get the hang of it.

The sport tailed off an hour or so in , so we searched elsewhere in vain , before returning again, if anything the walk was a good opportunity to get the blood circulating again in our feet, in fact we regularly took breaks just to warm up , we were joined by a wee robin , looking for free food , he even had the brass neck to attempt to take maggots from my bait apron .

 We went on to take a few more grayling, the sport  seemed to come on in spells.

It had been a nice day on the river, and i now feel i little more competent with the centrepin, thanks Brian.

back for more

I couldn't help myself today and went back to the same spot as last sunday for another session trotting for the grayling. Not such a nice day today with a strong downstream wind and generally feeling quite dreich.

 Started of with a wee trout before connecting with a good grayling, just under the 2lb mark.

a few more trout and another good grayling followed, just over the 2lb mark this time

and that was my lot for the day, a nice way to spend a short November afternoon, next time I think I might explore a different stretch of the river.

weekend grayling search

With a lack of fishing recently I decided to take Friday off work and have a day fishing for the grayling and headed up to perthshire to do a bit of trotting. The river was running high but clear so I was hopeful that I might pick up a Grayling or two. Fishable spots on the stretch were fairly limited with the high water but  I was in a good run where Col and I have encountered grayling before in similar conditions. Unfortunately It wasn't to be today though, plenty of out of season trout throughout the day but no grayling for my efforts, never mind a couple of steak bridies from the local butcher shop for the journey home to end an enjoyable day.

I still had plenty of bait left over from Friday so on Sunday I headed west to a river i haven't fished for a good while now, my plan was to fish its lower reaches where Ive had a couple of good grayling days in the past,  when I got there and peered over the bridge though it looked disappointingly dirty so I jumped back in the car and travelled to the rivers upper reaches where I found it  running clear and at a good height.

a hard frost on the ground today

 I've never fished this stretch before so I had a wee wonder downstream until I found a pool that I liked the look of with a nice pace and depth. After a few trots down I had a  trout before I got talking to an angler on the opposite bank, as it turns out  we knew each other from a forum, Paul knows this river like the back of his hand and pleasingly he told me the pool I was fishing was a reliable one for grayling  although  I would be better fishing it from the other bank.  I crossed over to join him and after a while I connected with a fish,  this time it turned out to be a grayling ,  just a wee one but I was pleased to finally get of the mark!

I dropped a better fish from the same spot before landing a nice grayling of a pound and a half

 a few trots down later and the float went in the same area again, felt like another good fish  but it shed the hook. They wised up after that, but by now I was beginning to feel the cold in my feet so called it a day contented  with a couple of hard won grayling,  a big thanks to Paul for his expert advice, can't wait to get back on this river next weekend.

Winter Account Open

Not been doing much fishing of recent , mainly due to the weather , work and other matters. A few hours this afternoon allowed for a shot at the grayling burn, no question about it the grayling have been notable by their absence this year, the last two visits I have resulted in a grayling lost at the net each time.

This afternoon the burn looked great plenty water and good clarity, in fact the silt seems to have been flushed away in the high water, the water though was cold, and last nights hard frost was still evident throughout the afternoon .

 I set up Nz style first with a size 14 blister bug under a dirty Polly, but after searching a nice looking bit in the first pool I decided to up the size of the glitter bug to a size 10 , with immediate result.

A grayling a real sight for sore eyes, and for once it didn't come off  at the net.

I continued upstream for a few pools with renewed optimism, but apart from a hat trick of out of season browns that found a liking for the nymph , no more grayling were forth coming. still theres always next time.

On the Bench

A nice whiting badger cape has sat in my drawer unused , decided to tie up some grey duster variants, just turkey biot klinks in truth but in greyduster guise. would have preferred them more if the badger cape had bigger black centres. Dressed on size 14 kamasan b100's. look forward to trying them out next spring .

abdomen :grey turkey biots
thorax: mole
wing post: white poly yarn
hackle: badger